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Black Economic Empowerment in the Cape Peninsula advertising industry: a multiple case study approach
Author(s)
Duffett, Rodney Graeme
Date Issued
2009
Type
Thesis
Publisher
Cape Peninsula University of Technology
Abstract
Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) aims to enable Black people in South Africa (SA), as
legislatively classified, to make a noteworthy contribution to the local economy by irreversibly
altering the racial profile of ownership, management echelons and all employment levels of
existing and new organisations. This ambitious strategy hopes to encourage economic
transformation by eliminating unfair discrimination; applying affirmative action (AA) policies;
empowering Black women and facilitating access to land, infrastructure, economic activities,
ownership, as well as training and skills development (SA. DTI, 2004a:4-5). The transformation
process in SA has been a lengthy and complex one, with the government slowly enacting enabling
legislation. The Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) Codes of Good Practice
was gazetted on 9 February 2007 and this significant piece of legislation has provided a framework
to guide and measure transformation activities.
The advertising industry has been criticised for its slow empowerment advancement, which led to
two parliamentary hearings in the early 2000s to investigate allegations of racism and poor
transformation progress. The Association for Communication and Advertising (ACA) gave full
cooperation during the parliamentary hearings and has been a main driving force of transformation
within the advertising industry. The ACA’s dedication resulted in the Marketing, Advertising and
Communication (MAC) sector charter being gazetted on 29 August 2008 (Jones, 2008).
There are few studies that have effectively investigated transformation and BEE progress within
the South African advertising industry over recent years. Of these, none has yielded rich qualitative
BEE data. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to explore progress made by advertising
agencies towards transformation in the Cape Peninsula, as well as the challenges and benefits that
result from implementing BEE measures in terms of BBBEE ownership and Employment Equity
(EE). These elements have been thoroughly examined by utilising a multiple case study approach
and by interviewing the top twelve traditional full-service advertising agencies through use of a
semi-structured interview guide, which primarily generated in-depth qualitative data.
Cape Town based advertising agencies readily provided a wealth of data, which illuminated
numerous previously unexplored positive and negative BEE issues. Recent BEE internal
advertising agency documents, literature, surveys and other research studies were used to
corroborate and verify the findings in order to reach a consensus, compromise or disagreement in
the subsequent discussion. The advertising industry has employed a multitude of innovative BEE
strategies to facilitate transformation progress and to address a number of inherent problems. This
has resulted in several success stories and numerous benefits as Cape Town based advertising
agencies have embarked on their varied transformation journeys. The recommendations of this
study would be useful to the national advertising industry, other sectors and government to assist in
streamlining the transformation process in SA.
legislatively classified, to make a noteworthy contribution to the local economy by irreversibly
altering the racial profile of ownership, management echelons and all employment levels of
existing and new organisations. This ambitious strategy hopes to encourage economic
transformation by eliminating unfair discrimination; applying affirmative action (AA) policies;
empowering Black women and facilitating access to land, infrastructure, economic activities,
ownership, as well as training and skills development (SA. DTI, 2004a:4-5). The transformation
process in SA has been a lengthy and complex one, with the government slowly enacting enabling
legislation. The Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) Codes of Good Practice
was gazetted on 9 February 2007 and this significant piece of legislation has provided a framework
to guide and measure transformation activities.
The advertising industry has been criticised for its slow empowerment advancement, which led to
two parliamentary hearings in the early 2000s to investigate allegations of racism and poor
transformation progress. The Association for Communication and Advertising (ACA) gave full
cooperation during the parliamentary hearings and has been a main driving force of transformation
within the advertising industry. The ACA’s dedication resulted in the Marketing, Advertising and
Communication (MAC) sector charter being gazetted on 29 August 2008 (Jones, 2008).
There are few studies that have effectively investigated transformation and BEE progress within
the South African advertising industry over recent years. Of these, none has yielded rich qualitative
BEE data. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to explore progress made by advertising
agencies towards transformation in the Cape Peninsula, as well as the challenges and benefits that
result from implementing BEE measures in terms of BBBEE ownership and Employment Equity
(EE). These elements have been thoroughly examined by utilising a multiple case study approach
and by interviewing the top twelve traditional full-service advertising agencies through use of a
semi-structured interview guide, which primarily generated in-depth qualitative data.
Cape Town based advertising agencies readily provided a wealth of data, which illuminated
numerous previously unexplored positive and negative BEE issues. Recent BEE internal
advertising agency documents, literature, surveys and other research studies were used to
corroborate and verify the findings in order to reach a consensus, compromise or disagreement in
the subsequent discussion. The advertising industry has employed a multitude of innovative BEE
strategies to facilitate transformation progress and to address a number of inherent problems. This
has resulted in several success stories and numerous benefits as Cape Town based advertising
agencies have embarked on their varied transformation journeys. The recommendations of this
study would be useful to the national advertising industry, other sectors and government to assist in
streamlining the transformation process in SA.
Additional information
Thesis (MTech (Marketing))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2009
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